Maybe you need a co-working office?

Everything “co” seems to be hot these days (co-living, car sharing, and so on), and after working in a “co” office for three years, I thought I’d share some thoughts and tips.

About three years ago, after 10 years of working from home, I hit the wall. My daughter (the main reason I started working from home in the first place) had started middle school, many of my friends who used to work part-time or not at all had gone back to full-time work, and I was unhappy and not getting a lot done during the day. Go out into the kitchen to get a drink of water…only to be confronted by a heap of dirty dishes. Get an e-mail asking if I could chaperone the school field trip…and end up feeling guilty about having to work instead. So, I decided that the problem wasn’t working from home, it was me plus working from home, so something had to change.

Three years in, my three-word summary is: I love it. I really don’t plan to ever work from home again on a permanent basis, although I do work primarily from home in the summers when my daughter is out of school. My income has gone up a lot; I gave myself a parameter that I had to make up the office rent in increased income and I exceed that goal, and I find that I’m much more able to focus on work when I’m at work. I’m much happier with my work situation, and I also find that when I get home, I’m much more able to focus on things other than work, which I had a very hard time doing before.

For my first two and a half years of co-working, I worked in an office in a historic school building, where the other co-workers were mostly middle-aged word nerds. When that office closed, I moved to a new office which has more of a tech/startup vibe and I’m one of the oldest people there, but I like both offices in their own way. At the first office I paid $350 a month and at the new office I pay $330, which includes my own desk, coffee, meeting space, etc. I leave my large monitor, full-size keyboard, etc. at the office and carry my laptop back and forth on my bike. The office also has a printer, copier, etc. so I’m pretty much set in terms of office equipment.

The only main caveat I would give is that working in a co-working office requires either a fairly high ambient noise tolerance or a willingness to wear headphones a lot (I alternate between the two). People are on the phone, or chatting, or whatever…there just always seems to be some kind of conversation going on. I find that kind of enjoyable, but it’s something to think about.

I’ve also heard from readers who want to try co-working but can’t find an office near them. The easiest option would be to just DIY: go work from a cafe or the library when you need to get out of the house. Another interesting option would be to form some kind of co-working club: get a couple of freelancers (or 20 freelancers…whatever!) together and meet up to work together. One day a week, or one day a month, or whenever you want; meet at the library or a cafe, or someone’s house, or a space like a church basement that you could use inexpensively.

Also, don’t discount the option of co-working on the road. Last summer my daughter did a day camp in Denver, which is about a 40 minute drive from our house. I couldn’t get excited about the idea of either doing two round trips a day, or camping out in a cafe for 7 hours, so I rented a desk for a week at Creative Density, a really fun co-working space in Denver (and they separate their rooms by noise level…yay!). So that’s an interesting option too!

“The only main caveat I would give is that working in a co-working office requires either a fairly high ambient noise tolerance or a willingness to wear headphones a lot”

This is precisely why I have never attempted to work from a co-working office: translating complex texts such as patents as I do, I would never be able to check them effectively in such an environment, unless it had a special “silent room” or something. Instead, I rent an ordinary office in an old house, along with another half-dozen companies (whose representatives I rarely see, unfortunately). It costs more, but if by renting an office I can make enough extra money to cover the rent that’s fine by me. On the other hand, I can appreciate the advantages of co-working: interaction with other people, networking opportunities and so on.

Thanks Alison! Yes, I agree, it’s definitely not for everyone: the noise factor is pretty big, even if you’re in a relatively quiet office. For example in my office, we have “phone rooms,” but you can still hear that the person is talking. However when I worked at home, I used to leave the radio on in another room just for background noise (sounds crazy, but true!). So it works for me, but your situation in the old house sounds cool too!!

Wow, I never heard of this concept of co-working before (I was a stay at home mom for 15 years, so yes, I have been out of the loop for a while!) Right now I am struggling with exactly what you are describing. I feel like I cannot stop thinking about work and have a hard time focusing on housework. This is definitely a great option I am going to look into. Thank you!

I try to get to my local co-working space once a week. I found out about it through my Chamber of Commerce, which offered me five free sessions. The funny thing is, apart from the people who own office space within it and shut themselves away, I’m often the only person in there! I love it though and would highly recommend it.

Hi Corinne, I read your article with interest and found that I could totally relate to your feeling of stagnation and non-enthusiasm, I’ve been going through that for a while. Can’t figure out if it’s the work itself or just the feeling of isolation. I have a lovely home office in a studio building (not in the house), but wonder if I should give co-working a try before making other more drastic changes. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who’s hit a wall.

Thanks Hilary! No, it’s not just you! I’m not in any way a depressive person, and I was getting really down about working at home. Personally I *love* co-working, but you have to sort of try it and see if it will work for you. I enjoy the “bustle” of being in an office, and hearing other people’s conversations doesn’t bother me. But that would make some people nuts…you just have to kind of try it and see what you think.

Awesome blog post. Like you working at home had its distractions. Thanks for sharing your experience about co-working. I haven’t tried it since I travel quite a bit. So far, cafes have been my office of choice 🙂

Co-working spaces are hugely popular here in Berlin, I go to a great one just a few blocks from my flat called Enklave. You pay per hour that you are there (great if you travel and don’t want to be tied to high monthly rates), there are different rooms one of which is specifically designated as “the silent room” and there are things like a running club, Free Beer Fridays and community lunches that all foster a great atmosphere and mean you get to actually talk to your fellow freelancers and remote workers.

I highly recommend co-working to everyone currently working from home, even if it’s just one day a week, it’s good to get out of the house and still be productive!

I have been doing the “DIY co-working” (i.e. library and cafe) arrangement for months because I have a 14-month old and find that there is no way I can work at home with him unless it’s nap time. Usually I’m much more productive and my ability to concentrate noticeably improves outside the home. I would say the biggest minus is not having my clunky, paper-based resources with me.

I like my iMac with 2 big screens. Could not work with a laptop anymore. Here in metro Boston coworking offices that are secure enough for my hardware and also quiet cost easily 1000 bucks/month. Sigh…

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